Best Chilled Ginger Soufflé Recipes

MINIATURE GRAPEFRUIT SOUFFLES WITH GINGER

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter six 6-ounce ramekins. Dust with granulated sugar, and refrigerate, uncovered.
• Bring juice to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat, and simmer until reduced to 1 cup, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in ginger.
• Combine 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and zest. Whisk in yolks, cornstarch, and flour, and then the juice mixture. Return to pan. Set over medium-high heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Let mixture cool, stirring occasionally, to room temperature. Stir in yogurt.
• With a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add salt and cream of tartar, and beat until soft peaks form. With machine running, gradually add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. Gently fold in grapefruit mixture in 3 additions.
• Divide mixture among prepared ramekins, and place them on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden and puffed, 20 to 25 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve immediately.

PEAR GINGER SOUFFLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter dishes well, coat with sugar, and tap out excess. Chill.
• Peel, quarter, and core pears. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Squeeze lemon halves over pieces to prevent discoloring. Place pears and 2 tablespoons sugar in a small saucepan and cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat until they become a chunky sauce, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a food processor, and puree. Return to pan.
• Using a clean garlic press, squeeze juice from ginger into puree; discard pulp. Continue cooking puree over low heat until thick and a spoon drawn through puree leaves a trail, about 15 minutes.
• In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in 2 tablespoons cold water. Stir into the puree, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Simmer a few minutes more. Transfer to a large bowl, and beat in egg yolks. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it onto the surface of the mixture. Keep warm until ready to use.
• In a large bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar. Beat until stiff and glossy.
• Spoon 1/3 of the whites into pear base. Add Poire William, if desired, and whisk until smooth. Quickly fold in remaining whites until combined. (Don't worry if there are some streaks.) Fill prepared dishes to about 1/4 inch from the top. Run your thumb around edge of dishes to make a groove. Sprinkle with granulated sugar if desired.
• Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce heat to 375 degrees and continue baking for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

GINGER-PUMPKIN SOUFFLé

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter 8 6-ounce ramekins. In medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, bring soy milk to boil. Add ginger, remove pan from heat, cover, and let steep 30 minutes. Strain soy milk, discarding ginger, and set aside.
• In large nonreactive bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk in flour until well combined. Gradually add hot milk, whisking constantly to prevent curdling. Return yolk mixture to saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until custard boils and thickens enough to coat back of a spoon, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl, whisk in pumpkin purée, and set aside.
• Using electric mixer with whisk attachment, beat egg whites until foamy and slightly opaque. With mixer running, add remaining 6 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, then beat until stiff but not dry. Fold 1/3 of egg whites into pumpkin mixture to lighten, then add mixture to remaining whites, folding in gently but thoroughly. Spoon batter into ramekins, filling almost to top, and lightly run finger around inside rim to create a "moat." Place ramekins in large baking pan. Place baking pan on middle oven rack and add hot water around ramekins to depth of 1 inch. Bake until soufflés have risen well above rim and tops are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Serve immediately.

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUFFLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lightly butter a souffle or ceramic baking dish and sprinkle 1 tablespoon white sugar over butter, tapping excess sugar out of dish. Store buttered and sugared dish in the refrigerator.
• Place butternut squash, cut-side down, onto the prepared baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until very soft, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Allow squash to cool to room temperature.
• Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.
• Scrape flesh from butternut squash into a in a food processor until smooth. Add flour mixture, 1/4 cup white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg and process until smooth. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, to squash mixture while continually processing.
• Beat egg whites in a bowl using an electric mixer until stiff peaks form; fold into squash mixture. Pour mixture into the chilled dish.
• Bake in the preheated oven until browned and top springs back after pressing, about 1 hour.

CHILLED GINGER SOUFFLé

Steps:

• 1. Soak gelatin in lemon juice for about 5 minutes.
• 2. Chill a 2-quart soufflé dish or dessert bowl.
• 3. In the top of a double boiler, combine the milk, egg yolks, sugar, and salt (if desired); with a rotary beater, blend them until mixed thoroughly. Over boiling water, cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it thickens and coats a metal spoon. Remove the utensil from the heat.
• 4. Add the gelatin, ginger marmalade, and vanilla, stirring to blend the mixture well. Transfer it to a mixing bowl and chill it until it just begins to set (perhaps an hour--watch closely. If you wait too long, it will coagulate into lumps and be ruined).
• 5. With a rotary beater, briefly whip the mixture to assure its smoothness. Fold in the whipped cream. Beat in one-fifth of the egg white; fold in the remainder. Using a rubber spatula, transfer the mixture to a prepared dish and chill it for at least 6 hours, or until it is thoroughly set.
• Note: this does have raw egg whites in it, so be careful about serving it while still chilled. You don't want to leave it out on a hot summer's day or you could run the risk of food-borne illness.

GINGERBREAD SOUFFLES WITH VANILLA SAUCE

Steps:

• For the sauce, combine the half and half, vanilla bean and vanilla seeds in a mediumsaucepan and bring to a low boil over medium heat.
• Take the pan from the heat.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks, then gradually whisk in the hot half and half.
• Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir with a wooden spoon over medium low heat until the custard thickens enough to coat the badk of the spoon, about 5 minutes.
• (DO NOT BOIL or the mixture will curdle).
• Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into a small bowl and stir in the bourbon.
• Let cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until fully chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 400*F.
• Butter eight ounce ramekins.
• Coat the insides evenly with sugar and shake out the excess.
• Put the dishes on a large baking sheet and set aside.
• Melt the butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat.
• Add the flour and whisk until the mixture is smooth and bubbly, about 2 minutes.
• Gradually whisk the milk into the flour mixture, whisking constantly until the milk is thickened and themixture is smooth, about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Take the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar, molasses, rum, ginger, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.
• Let cool until warm, about 10 minutes.
• Whisk in the egg yolks and set aside.
• Whip the egg whites with an electric mixer at high speed until frothy.
• Add the cream of tartar and beat until the whites are still, but not dry.
• Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture in three additions.
• Divide the batter among the prepared dishes and run the tip of a knife around the top of the mixture, about 1/2 inch from the edge to facilitate crowning.
• Bake the souffles until puffed and golden, about 15 minutes.
• Serve right away, making an indentation in the souffles and drizzling in the sauce.

HOW TO MAKE SOUFFLé

Steps:

• In "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," their profoundly influential 1961 cookbook, Julia Child, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle describe the soufflé as the "epitome and triumph of the art of French cooking." A half-century later, soufflé remains as vital as ever, as successive generations of chefs revisit and refresh the classic recipe. A souffle has two main components, a flavorful base and glossy beaten egg whites, and they are gently folded together just before baking. The word itself comes from "souffler," meaning "to breathe" or "to puff," which is what the whites do to the base once they hit the oven's heat. The base may be made either savory or sweet. Savory soufflés usually incorporate cheese, vegetables, meat or seafood and are appropriate for a light dinner or lunch, or as a first course. They require a substantial and stable base, in the form of a cooked sauce that often involves butter, egg yolks and some kind of starch (flour, rice or cornstarch). Sweet soufflés, with fruit, chocolate or liquors, make spectacular desserts. The base can be made from a fruit purée, or a sweet, rich sauce. Soufflés are found all over France, with each region applying its own spin. In Alsace, cooks use kirsch. In Provence, goat cheese or eggplant are excellent additions. And naturally, Roquefort cheese is a popular addition in Roquefort.
• Marie-Antoine Carême, the father of French haute cuisine, is credited with perfecting and popularizing the soufflé, publishing his recipe in "Le Pâtissier Royal Parisien" in 1815. (The first recipe had appeared in 1742, in Vincent La Chapelle's "Le Cuisinier Moderne.") Initially, Carême made his soufflés in stiff pastry casings called croustades that were lined with buttered paper. Soon after, vessels were developed just for making souffles, deep dishes with straight sides, for the tallest rise. Carême went on to create several variations, including Soufflé Rothschild, named after his employer, one of the richest men in France; it contained candied fruit macerated in a liquor containing flecks of gold. (Contemporary versions substitute more attainable kirsch for the golden elixir.) As the soufflé evolved, the number of variations grew. By the time Auguste Escoffier published "Le Guide Culinaire" in 1903, which codified the classic recipes of French cuisine, more than 60 soufflé variations were in common use, with versions that incorporated ingredients as varied as Parmesan cheese, foie gras, escarole, pheasant, violets, almonds and tea. A layered soufflé called a Camargo alternated stripes of tangerine and hazelnut soufflé batters in the same dish. "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," published nearly six decades later, offered several recipes, including a version called Soufflé Vendôme, in which cold poached eggs are layered into the unbaked soufflé mixture. After baking, the eggs warm up slightly, releasing their runny yolks when the soufflé is broken. Despite a movement in France in recent years that called for a more experimental take on traditional cuisine, there is still a place for perfect soufflé. And while chefs may innovate upon the classic version, those first 18th-century recipes are still very much in use. Above, the menu at Le Soufflé, a restaurant in Paris.
• Soufflé mold The soufflé has a pan created just for it, a deep ceramic dish with straight sides. Ceramic holds the heat evenly, so the center cooks at nearly the same rate as the edges, and the sides direct the expanding air upward, to give the most rise. A heavy metal charlotte mold also works. Or use a shallow oven-safe dish, like a gratin dish or a skillet. The soufflé won't rise as high, but it will still puff up. (It will likely cook faster, so watch it carefully.)Metal mixing bowl You will achieve better results beating the whites in a metal mixing bowl rather than in a plastic, glass or ceramic bowl. Plastic can retain oily residue, and glass and ceramic are slippery, making it harder to get the whites to cling and climb up the sides. This is especially important if you are beating the whites by hand. Stainless steel or copper work best.Electric mixer Using an electric mixer, whether it is a hand-held model or a stand mixer, makes the work of beating egg whites go faster and easier than if you were to use a whisk and your arms. Wirecutter, a product recommendations website owned by The New York Times Company, has a guide to the best stand mixers.
• A chocolate soufflé is an eternal showstopper of a dessert. The flavor is dark and intense, yet the texture is light and custardy. Be sure to use excellent bittersweet chocolate. For maximum drama, always serve a soufflé straight from the oven.
• The primary technique for making a tall and airy soufflé is the proper beating of the egg whites. Once you learn it, a whole fluffy world opens up, rich with spongecakes, mousses and foams.• Always use eggs at room temperature or even warm, for the highest rise. Cold egg whites won't beat up as loftily. To get cold eggs to temperature quickly, soak them in their shells in warm water for 20 minutes. • Make sure your hands are clean. If there is any trace of oil or grease on them and you touch the egg whites, the soufflé may not puff. • Crack your eggs on a flat surface, like the countertop, instead of on the rim of the bowl. That way, you are less likely to shatter the shell and pierce the yolk. • There are two ways to separate eggs. The first is to hold the cracked egg over a bowl and pass the yolk between shells, letting the white slip into the bowl. Gently drop the yolk in into a separate, smaller bowl. Take care: The sharp edge of the shell can easily pierce the yolk, allowing it to seep into the white. The other method requires you to strain the whites through your fingers, but it ensures that yolks do not creep into the whites. First, set up three bowls. Hold your hand over one bowl and drop the cracked egg into your palm, letting the white run through your fingers into the bowl. Drop the yolk into the second bowl. Inspect the white for traces of yolk. If there are none, slip the white into the third bowl. Repeat with remaining eggs. Using that first bowl as a way station for each freshly cracked white before it gets added to the main bowl of pristine whites helps ensure no yolk contaminates the mixture.• Well-beaten, stable whites are the key to a gorgeously puffy soufflé. So don't rush this step. The slower you go, the better your chances for success. • Take a moment to make sure there are no traces of yolk or any fat in the egg whites or the bowl. (Egg yolk will impede the whites from frothing.) • Adding a little bit of acid (in our recipes, cream of tartar) helps stabilize the egg foam, and also helps prevent overbeating. Beating the whites in a copper bowl will produce a similar result without the added acid, which is why copper bowls were historically considered essential for making meringues. • If you are using a stand mixer, check the bottom of the bowl every now and then for unbeaten egg whites. Sometimes the whites pool there, and when you go to incorporate the meringue into the base, those whites will deflate the overall soufflé. Whisk any pooled whites by hand into the rest of the meringue and continue beating with the machine. • Beat until the meringue is just able to hold stiff peaks. This means that when you lift the whisk out of the meringue, it will create a little cowlick that stays upright without drooping as you gently move the whisk. It should look glossy, or be just starting to lose its shine. Don't overbeat (which will make the foam turn grainy and dry) or underbeat (which won't give the proper lift). If you overbeat your whites, you might be able to rescue them by beating in another egg white. This often restores them.• The goal in folding the egg whites into the base is to work quickly and use a light touch. This lightens the base, making it easier to fold in the rest of the meringue mixture all at once. Fold in a C shape, as demonstrated in the video above: Starting in the middle of the bowl, drag the thin edge of a spatula down like a knife, then tilt and scoop up a spatula full of the soufflé base, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Turn the batter over, away from your body, back into the middle of the bowl. Shift the bowl 45 degrees, and repeat. • Stop folding when the streaks of white have just disappeared - or rather, when they have almost disappeared. A few white streaks are preferable to overfolding, which deflates the batter.• Buttering the soufflé dish, then coating the butter with something with a bit of texture, is essential for the rise. If the soufflé dish were to be just buttered, the soufflé would slip down the sides instead of climbing. An additional thin coating of granulated sugar, bread crumbs, ground nuts or grated cheese creates a rough texture for the egg whites to hold onto as they rise.• If your soufflé dish isn't big enough to accommodate all of the batter, you can extend it by tying a buttered piece of parchment paper or foil around the rim of the soufflé dish to increase its volume.• For individual soufflés, use small ramekins placed on a rimmed baking sheet so they are easy to get in and out of the oven. Reduce the cooking time of a larger soufflé by about half.• Heat matters. Make sure the oven is preheated; that initial hot blast expands the air trapped inside the bubbly foam of batter, which makes it rise. Having the soufflé base hot or warm when you fold in the egg whites helps the temperature rise quickly, too.• Baking the soufflé on a preheated baking sheet on the bottom of the oven helps the soufflé cook on the bottom as well as the top, producing a more even result. The baking sheet will also catch any overflow.• For a higher rise, rub your thumb around the inside rim of the soufflé dish to create a gap between the dish and the batter. (Many soufflé dishes already have a groove there to help.) • If you want a perfectly flat top to your soufflé, level the foam with the back of a knife before baking, and before running your thumb around the edge of the dish. Or you could leave the foam as it is, for a more natural, wavy look. Julia Child preferred a natural top; pastry chefs tend to prefer a flat top. • A soufflé is done baking when it has risen above the rim of the dish and is nicely browned on top. It should feel mostly firm and only slightly jiggly when you lightly tap the top. Flourless soufflés, such as those made with fruit purée or chocolate, are lighter and cook faster. (Chocolate soufflés can also be intentionally underbaked for a gooey chocolate interior. The soufflé should be a tad wiggly when gently shaken but firm around the edges.) Thicker soufflés made with flour, like a cheese soufflé, don't rise as much in the oven, but won't collapse as much either. • Use the window of your oven to monitor the soufflé, and don't open the oven door until you see the soufflé puff up over the sides of the dish. Once it has done that, you can safely open the oven and check on it. • If the top of your soufflé starts to brown too fast, top it with a round of parchment paper. • All soufflés fall within minutes of coming out of the oven, because the hot air bubbles contract when they hit cooler air. That's why you need to serve them immediately after baking. But as long as you don't overfold the whites, and you resist opening the oven door until the last few minutes of baking, your soufflé will rise gloriously before the dramatic and expected collapse. • You can prepare any soufflé batter ahead, but you will probably lose some volume. Assemble the soufflé in its dish, then set it aside in a warm place without drafts for up to four hours. Julia Child recommends turning your largest soup pot over the soufflé, and that would work. But any draft-free space is fine. A draft could deflate the foam.
• This savory soufflé is as classic as can be, with beaten egg whites folded into a rich cheese-laden béchamel for flavor and stability. Gruyère is the traditional cheese used for soufflé, but a good aged Cheddar would also work nicely. This makes a great lunch or brunch dish.
• Once you've mastered more basic soufflés, try this very light recipe, adapted from Julia Child, which uses a base of syrupy fruit to flavor the egg whites, without the addition of fats or starches. A combination of raspberries and strawberries makes it marvelously pink.
• Savory soufflés are usually served by themselves, but sweet soufflés often have a sauce on the side, to be poured into the center of the soufflé after you've dug in your spoon. Or opt for ice cream, which provides a thrilling hot-cold contrast. Either will deflate the soufflé, so add it after your guests have had a chance to admire it. This creamy custard, made from egg yolks and milk, is a great sauce for any sweet soufflé, including chocolate, fruit and Grand Marnier. You can flavor the sauce with a dash of liquor, some lemon zest or a pinch of cinnamon or another spice.A versatile choice, caramel sauce is lovely with all kinds of sweet soufflés, be they flavored with simple vanilla bean, chocolate or fruit.A perfect match for fruit soufflés, this can be as simple as a lightly sweetened purée of fruit, or a more elaborate fruit-flavored custard or curd.A chocolate sauce accentuates the richness of chocolate soufflés. You can use the same type of chocolate in the sauce as you've used in the soufflé, or try mixing it up, using a darker and more bitter chocolate to cut the sweetness, or a milk chocolate to step it up.
• Photography Food styling: Alison Attenborough. Prop styling: Beverley Hyde. Additional photography: Karsten Moran for The New York Times. Additional styling: Jade Zimmerman. Video Food styling: Chris Barsch and Jade Zimmerman. Art direction: Alex Brannian. Prop styling: Catherine Pearson. Director of photography: James Herron. Camera operators: Tim Wu and Zack Sainz. Editing: Will Lloyd and Adam Saewitz. Additional editing: Meg Felling.
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